Part 1
{57}
NOTES AND QUERIES:
A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION FOR LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES, GENEALOGISTS, ETC.
"When found, make a note of."--CAPTAIN CUTTLE.
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No. 168.] SATURDAY, JANUARY 15. 1853 [With Index, price 10d. Stamped Edition 11d.
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CONTENTS.
NOTES:-- Page
Inedited Poem by Pope 57
Southey's "Doctor:" St. Matthias' Day in Leap-year, by P. J. Yarrum 58
Oxfordshire Legend in Stone, by B. H. Cowper 58
Lady Nevell's Music-Book 59
Bishop Burnet, by Wm. L. Nichols 59
A Monastic Kitchener's Account 60
The Fairies in New Ross, by Patrick Cody 61
MINOR NOTES:--The Duke of Wellington and Marshal Ney: Parallel Passage in the Life of Washington and Major André--St. Bernard _versus_ Fulke Greville--St. Munoki's Day--Epitaph in Chesham Churchyard--Gentlemen Pensioners--Marlborough: curious Case of Municipal Opposition to County Magistracy--Wet Season in 1348--General Wolfe 62
QUERIES:--
Pope and the Marquis Maffei 64
The Church Catechism, by C. J. Armistead 64
A Countess of Southampton 64
MINOR QUERIES:--Hardening Steel Bars--Pierrepoint--Ceylon-- Flemish and Dutch Schools of Painting--"To talk like a Dutch Uncle"--Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Belgium-- Charter of Waterford--Inscription on Penny of George III.--"Shob" or "Shub," a Kentish Word--Bishop Pursglove (Suffragan) of Hull--Stewarts of Holland--Robert Wauchope, Archbishop of Armagh, 1543--Plum-pudding--"Whene'er I asked"--Immoral Works--Arms at Bristol--Passage in Thomson--"For God will be your King to-day"--"See where the startled wild fowl"--Ascension-day--The Grogog of a Castle 65
REPLIES:--
Canongate Marriages 67
Lady Katherine Grey 68
Howlett the Engraver, by B. Hudson 69
Chaucer 69
PHOTOGRAPHIC NOTES AND QUERIES:--Pyrogallic Acid-- Stereoscopic Pictures with One Camera--Mr. Crookes' Wax-paper Process--India Rubber a Substitute for Yellow Glass--Dr. Diamond's Paper Processes 70
REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES:--Ancient Timber Town-halls-- Magnetic Intensity--Monument at Wadstena--David Routh, R. C. Bishop of Ossory--Cardinal Erskine--"Ne'er to these chambers," &c.--The Budget--"Catching a Tartar"--The Termination "-itis" 71
MISCELLANEOUS:--
Books and Odd Volumes wanted 73
Notices to Correspondents 73
Advertisements 74
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Notes.
INEDITED POEM BY POPE.
In an original letter from James Boaden to Northcote the artist, I find the following passage; and I add to it the verses to which allusion is therein made:
"60. Warren Street, Fitzroy Square. "28th August, 1827.
"My dear friend,
"The verses annexed are so fine, that you should put them into your copy of Pope, among the Miscellanies. Dr. Warburton received them too late for his edition of our poet, and I find them only in a letter from the prelate to Dr. Hurd, dated 'Prior Park, June 24th, 1765.'
"I have used the freedom to mark a few of the finest touches with a pencil, to show you _my_ feeling. These you can rub out easily, and afterwards indulge your own. The style of interrogation seems to have revived in Gray's Elegy. Hurd would send the verses to Mason as soon as he got them; and Mason and Gray, as you know, were _one_ in all their studies.
"I do not forget the Fables. "Yours, my dear friend, always, "J. BOADEN. "J. Northcote, Esq."
Not having by me any modern edition of Pope's _Works_, may I ask whether these verses, thus transcribed for Northcote by his friend Boaden, have yet been introduced to the public?
_Verses by Mr. Pope, on the late Dean of Carlisle's (Dr. Bolton) having written and published a Paper to the Memory of Mrs. Butler, of Sussex, Mother to old Lady Blount of Twickenham._
[They are supposed to be spoken by the deceased lady to the author of that paper, which drew her character.]
"Stript to the naked soul, escaped from clay, From doubts unfetter'd, and dissolved in day; Unwarm'd by vanity, unreach'd by strife, And all my hopes and fears thrown off with life; Why am I charm'd by Friendship's fond essays, And tho' unbodied, conscious of thy praise? {58} Has pride a portion in the parted soul? Does passion still the formless mind control? Can gratitude outpant the silent breath, Or a friend's sorrow pierce the glooms of death? No, 'tis a spirit's nobler taste of bliss, That feels the worth it left, in proofs like this; That not its own applause but thine approves, Whose practice praises, and whose virtue loves; Who liv'st to crown departed friends with fame; Then dying, late, shalt all thou gav'st reclaim. MR. POPE."
A. F. W.
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SOUTHEY'S "DOCTOR;" ST. MATTHIAS' DAY IN LEAP-YEAR.
In looking over the 1848 edition of Southey's book, _The Doctor_, I observe an error which has escaped the care and revision of the editor, the Rev. J. W. Warter, B.D. At p. 199., where Southey is referring to the advantages of almanacs, he writes:
"Who is there that has not sometimes had occasion to consult the almanac? Maximilian I., by neglecting to do this, failed in an enterprise against Bruges. It had been concerted with his adherents in that turbulent city, that he should appear before it at a certain time, and they would be ready to rise in his behalf, and open the gates for him. He forgot that it was leap-year, and came a day too soon; and this error on his part cost many of the most zealous of his friends their lives. It is remarkable that neither the historian who relates this, nor the writers who have followed him, should have looked into the almanac to guard against any inaccuracy in the relation; _for they have fixed the appointed day on the eve of St. Matthias, which being the 23rd of February, could not be put out of its course by leap-year_."
The words in Italics show Southey's mistake. This historian was quite correct: as, according to the calendar of the Roman Catholic Church, although the regular festival of St. Matthias is celebrated upon the 24th of February, yet, "in anno bissextili Februarius est dierum 29, et Festum S. Mathiæ celebratur 25 Februarii." Thus it will be seen, that the year when Maximilian was to have appeared before Bruges being leap-year, and the day appointed being the eve of St. Matthias, he should have come upon the 24th, not the 23rd of February: the leap-year making all the difference.
P. J. YARRUM.
Dublin.
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OXFORDSHIRE LEGEND IN STONE.
A few miles from Chipping-Norton, by the side of a road which divides Oxfordshire from Warwickshire, and on the brow of a hill overlooking Long Compton, stand the remains of a Druidical temple. Leland speaks of them as "Rollright stones," from their being in the parish of Rollright. The temple consists of a single circle of stones, from fifty to sixty in number, of various sizes and in different positions, but all of them rough, time-worn, and mutilated. The peasantry say that it is impossible to count these stones, and certainly it is a difficult task, though not because there is any witchcraft in the matter, but owing to the peculiar position of some of them. You will hear of a certain baker who resolved not to be outwitted, so hied to the spot with a basketful of small loaves, one of which he placed on every stone. In vain he tried; either his loaves were not sufficiently numerous, or some sorcery displaced them, and he gave up in despair. Of course no one expects to succeed now.
In a field adjoining are the remains of a cromlech, the altar where, at a distance from the people, the priests performed their mystic rites. The superimposed stone has slipped off, and rests against the others. These are the "Whispering Knights," and this their history:--In days of yore, when rival princes debated their claims to England's crown by dint of arms, the hostile forces were encamped hard by. Certain traitor-knights went forth to parley with others from the foe. While thus plotting, a great magician, whose power they unaccountably overlooked, transformed them all into stone, and there they stand to this day.
Not far from the temple, but on the opposite side of the road, is a solitary stone, probably the last of two rows which flanked the approach to the sacred circle. This stone was once a prince who claimed the British throne. On this spot he inquired of the magician above named what would be his destiny:
"If Long Compton you can see, King of England you shall be,"
answered the wise man. But he could not see it, and at once shared the fate of the "Whispering Knights." This is called the "King's stone," and so stands that, while you cannot see Long Compton from it, you can if you go forward a very little way. On some future day an armed warrior will issue from this very stone, to conquer and govern our land!
It is said that a farmer, who wished to bridge over a small stream at the foot of the hill, resolved to press the "Whispering Knights" into the service; but it was almost too much for all the horse power at his command to bring them down. At length they were placed, but all they could do was not sufficient to keep them in their place. It was therefore resolved to restore them to their original post, when, lo! they who required so much to bring them down, and defied all attempts to keep them quiet, were taken back almost without an effort by a single horse! So there they stand, {59} till they and the rest (for I believe the large circle was once composed of living men) shall return to their proper manhood.
Other legends respecting this curious relic might, I doubt not, be obtained on the spot. I obtained the above in answer to inquiries, when making a pilgrimage to the place.
B. H. COWPER.
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LADY NEVELL'S MUSIC-BOOK.
The following contents of the Lady Nevell's music-book (1591) may be interesting to many of your readers:
"1. My Ladye Nevell's Grownde. 2. Que passe, for my Ladye Nevell. 3. The March before the Battell. 4. The Battell. The March of Footemen. The March of Horsemen. The Trumpetts. The Irishe Marche. The Bagpipe and Drone. The Flute and Dromme. The Marche to Fight. Tantara. The Battells be ioyned. The Retreat. 5. The Galliarde for the Victorie. 6. The Barley Breake. 7. The Galliarde Gygg. 8. The Hunt's upp. 9. Ut re mi fa sol la. 10. The first Pauian. 11. The Galliard to the same. 12. The seconde Pauian. 13. The Galliarde to the same. 14. The third Pauian. 15. The Galliarde to the same. 16. The fourth Pauian. 17. The Galliarde to the same. 18. The fifte Pauian. 19. The Galliarde to the same. 20. The sixte Pauian. 21. The Galliarde to the same. 22. The seventh Pauian. 23. The eighte Pauian. The passinge mesurs is, 24. The nynthe Pauian. 25. The Galliarde to the same. 26. The Voluntarie Lesson. 27. Will you walk the Woods soe wylde. 28. The Mayden's Song. 29. A Lesson of Voluntarie. 30. The second Grownde. 31. Have w^t you to Walsingame. 32. All in a Garden greene. 33. The lo. Willobie's welcome home. 34. The Carman's Whistle. 35. Hughe Ashton's Grownde. 36. A Fancie, for my Ladye Nevell. 37. Sellinger's Rownde. 38. Munser's Almaine. 39. The tenth Pauian, Mr. W. Peter. 40. The Galliarde to the same. 41. A Fancie. 42. A Voluntarie. Finis.
Ffinished and ended the Leventh of September, in the yeare of our Lorde God 1591, and in the 33 yeare of the raigne of our sofferaine ladie Elizabeth, by the grace of God Queen of England, &c., by me, Jo. Baldwine of Windsore.
Laudes Deo."
The songs have no words to them. Most of the airs are signed "Mr. William Birde."
A modern MS. note in the book states that the book is "Lady Nevell's Music-book," and that she seems "to have been the scholar of Birde, who professedly composed several of the pieces for her ladyship's use;" and that sixteen of the forty-two pieces are "in the Virginal Book of Queen Elizabeth," and that "Jo. Baldwine was a singing-man at Windsor." The music is written on four-staved paper of six lines, in large bold characters, with great neatness. The notes are lozenge-shape. Can any of your correspondents furnish rules for transposing these six-line staves into the five-line staves of modern notations?
L. B. L.
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BISHOP BURNET.
Having but recently become acquainted with your useful and learned work (for _scire ubi aliquid invenire possis, magna pars eruditionis est_), I have been much interested in looking over the earlier volumes. Allow me to add a couple of links to your _catena_ on Bishop Burnet. The first is the opinion of Hampton, the translator of Polybius; the other is especially valuable, it being nothing less than the portrait of Burnet drawn by himself, but certainly not with any idea of its being suspended beside the worthies of his "Own Time," for the edification of posterity.
Hampton's testimony is as follows:
"His personal resentments put him upon writing history. He relates the actions of a persecutor and benefactor; and it is easy to believe that a man in such circumstances must violate the laws of truth. The remembrance of his injuries is always present, and gives venom to his pen. Let us add to this, that intemperate and malicious curiosity which penetrates into the most private recesses of vice. The greatest of his triumphs is to draw the veil of secret infamy, and expose to view transactions that were before concealed from the world; though they serve not in the least either to embellish the style or connect the series of his history, and will never obtain more credit than, perhaps, to suspend the judgment of the reader, since they are supported only by one single, _suspected_ testimony."--_Reflections on Ancient and Modern History_, 4to.: Oxford, 1746.
Let me now refer you to a document, written with his own hand, which sets the question of {60} Burnet's truthfulness and impartiality in his delineations of character completely at rest.
From the Napier charter-chest, "by a species of retributive justice," there has recently risen up in judgment against him _a letter of his own, proving his own character_. It is, I regret, too long for insertion in your pages _in extenso_, but no abstract can give an adequate idea of its contents. It is, in fact, so mean and abject as almost to overpass belief. I must refer your readers to Mr. Mark Napier's _Montrose and the Covenanters_, vol. i. pp. 13-21. All the reflections of the Whig historian Dalrymple, all the severe remarks of Swift and Lord Dartmouth, as to Burnet's dishonesty and malice, would now seem well bestowed upon a writer so despicable and faithless, and the credit of whose statements, when resting _on his own sole authority_, must be totally destroyed. This curious epistle was written, in an agony of fear, on a Sunday morning, during the memorable crisis of the Rye-House plot, and while Lord Russell was on the eve of his execution. Addressed to Lord Halifax, it was intended to meet the eye of the King. It evidently proves the writer's want of veracity in divers subsequent statements in his history. The future bishop also protests that he never will accept of any preferment, promises never more to oppose the Court, and intimates an intention to paint the King in the fairest light--"if I ever live to finish what I am about;" _i.e._ the _History of his Own Time_, in which the villanous portrait of Charles afterwards appeared.
"Here, then," says Mr. Napier, "is Burnet _Redivivus_; and now the bishop may call Montrose a coward or what he likes, and persuade the world of his own super-eminent moral courage, if he can. For our own part, after reading the above letter, we do not believe one malicious word of what Burnet has uttered in the _History of his Own Time_ against Charles I. and Montrose; and he has therein said nothing about them that is not malicious. We do not believe that the apology for Hamilton, which he has given to the world in the memoirs of that House, is by any means so truthful an exposition of the character of that mysterious marquis as the letters and papers entrusted to the bishop enabled him to give. We feel thoroughly persuaded that Bishop Burnet, in that work, as well as in the _History of his Own Time_, reversed the golden maxim of Cicero, '_Ne quid falsi dicere audeat, ne quid veri non audeat_.' The marvellous of himself, and the malicious of others, we henceforth altogether disbelieve, when resting on the sole authority of the bishop's historical record, and will never listen to when retailed traditionally and at second-hand from him. Finally, we do believe the truth of the anecdote, that the bishop, 'after a debate in the House of Lords, usually went home and altered everybody's character as they had pleased or displeased him that day;' and that he kept weaving in secret this chronicle of his times, not to enlighten posterity or for the cause of truth, but as a means of indulging in safety his own interested or malicious feelings towards the individuals that pleased or offended him. So much for Bishop Burnet, whose authority must henceforth always be received _cum nota_."
WM. L. NICHOLS.
Lansdown Place, Bath.
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A MONASTIC KITCHENER'S ACCOUNT.
(From a volume of memoranda touching the monastery of Whalley, temp. Henry VIII., among the records of the Court of Augmentation.)
"Dyv'se somes of money leid oute by me Jamys More, monke and kechyner to the late Abbot of Whalley, for and conc'nynge dyv'se caitts bought by the seid Jamys of dyv'se [p=]sons, as hereaft' dothe [p=]ticlerly appire by [p=]cells whiche came to thuse of the seid house, and spent yn the seid house from the last daye of December until the ---- daye of Marche then next folowynge yn the xxviij^{th} yere of the reign of Kynge Henry the viij^{th}, whiche somes of money the said Jamys asketh allowance.
First payde to Edmunde Taillor Fischer for ---- salt salmons, spent in the seyd late abbott kechyn syns the tyme of his accompt xxv^s
Itm. Payde to the seid Edmunde for xj freshe salmons, bought of the said Edmunde to thuse, &c. of the seid house, there spent by the seid tyme xxv^s
Itm. Payde to Will'm Newbbet for fresh fische iij^s iij^d
Itm. Payde for vj capons, bought at Fastyngeseven of dyv'se [p=]sons ij^s
Itm. Payde for xxxv hennes, bought of dyv'se [p=]sons v^s x^d
Itm. Payde for eggs, butter, chese, bought of dyv'se [p=]sons betwixt Cristmas and Fastyngsevyn, spent yn the seid house xxiiij^s
Itm. Payde for mustersede v^s
Itm. Bought of Will'm Fische viij potts hony-pric x^s
Itm. Bought of Anthony Watson vij gallons hony ix^s iiij^d
Itm. Bought of John Colthirst ij gallons hony ij^s iiij^d
Itm. Payde to Richard Jackson for xvij^c sparlyngs ix^s viii^d
Sum of the payments vj^{li} xviij^d (sic in orig.)
Itm. The same Jamys askyth allowance of xiiij^s, whiche the seid late abbott dyd owe hym at the tyme of his last accompt, whiche endyd at Cristmas last past, as yt dothe appire by the accompt of the seid Jamys More.
Itm. The late abbott of Whalley dyd owe unto the seid Jamys More, for a grey stagg that the seid late abbott dyd by of the same Jamys by the space of a yere syns x^s
By me JAMES MOR."
The advowson of the parish church of Whalley having been bequeathed to the White Monks of Stanlawe (Cheshire), they removed their abbey {61} there A.D. 1206; it being dedicated to the Virgin Mary ("Locus Benedictus de Whalley"), and having about sixty indwellers. (Tanner's _Notitia_.)
ANON.
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THE FAIRIES IN NEW ROSS.
"When moonlight Near midnight Tips the rock and waving wood; When moonlight Near midnight Silvers o'er the sleeping flood; When yew tops With dew-drops Sparkle o'er deserted graves; 'Tis then we fly Through welkin high, Then we sail o'er yellow waves."
_Book of Irish Ballads._
There lived, some thirty years since, in the eastern part of the suburbs of New Ross, in the county of Wexford, denominated the "Maudlins," a hedge carpenter named Davy Hanlan, better known to his neighbours by the sobriquet of "Milleadh Maide," or "Speilstick." Davy plied his trade with all the assiduity of an industrious man, "and laboured in all kinds of weather" to maintain his little family; and as his art consisted principally in manufacturing carts, ploughs, and harrows (iron ploughs not being then in use) for the surrounding farmers, and doctoring their old ones, the sphere of Davy's avocations was confined to no mean limits.